Arguably no one must be feeling better about the Boston Celtics’ early-season struggles than Nick Wright.

The “First Things First” co-host had his reservations about the Celtics before the 2018-19 campaign even got underway, while everyone else and their mother effectively had Boston penciled in to the NBA Finals.

Wright reminded the basketball world Friday of his preseason assessment of the C’s on FOX Sports 1. And not only is Wright not backing down from his stance, he’s doubling down on his belief that Boston isn’t a top-three team in the Eastern Conference.

"The Boston Celtics are the 4th best team in the East. That's where they went into the year, and that's where they're going to finish the year."

It’s tough to blame Wright for capitalizing on the moment, but there’s way too much season left to be writing off the Celtics as one of the top teams in the East. With just over a quarter of the campaign in the books, Boston currently is just two games back of the third-seeded Philadelphia 76ers and two and a half games behind the No. 2 Milwaukee Bucks. Not only do the C’s have a richer talent level than both of those teams, but they also have arguably the best coach in the conference.

But at the end of the day, seeding isn’t exactly imperative come playoff time. While home-court advantage obviously is a plus, depth and experience often are bigger factors in the postseason. And after coming eerily close to reaching the Finals last season, the Celtics will be hungry to get over the hump in the spring.